This section of the curriculum guide is intended to be used in conjunction with other resources that explain and model instructional approaches and strategies. Teachers are advised to refer to Saskatchewan Education (1991) Instructional Approaches: A Framework for Professional Practice for more information on instructional approaches. The Saskatchewan Professional Development Unit (SPDU) and Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit (SIDRU) have produced a series of practical documents that complement the description of instructional strategies in this curriculum. These are listed under the heading Instructional Strategies Series in the Elementary Physical Education Curriculum Guide bibliography.
Instructional methods can be grouped into five clusters:
Teachers should use a variety of instructional approaches in each of the five strategies in order to:
· emphasize both process and content
· address a variety of learning styles
· meet individual student needs
· foster the attitudes, skills and knowledge needed for independent, life-long learning
In the following information, instructional strategies and methods that complement this curriculum guide are briefly defined and described. Some assessment or evaluation strategies are suggested.
Direct instruction strategies are highly teacher centered. The lecture method is a direct instruction example.
· These refer to teacher activities and talks that show students how.
· Demonstrations apply primarily to skills and processes and are useful for helping students acquire procedural knowledge.
· Example: How to perform a shoulder roll backward.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
· Demonstrations feature the teacher as performer; therefore, the students are not involved and no assessment is necessary.
· These are questions that tend to be convergent (they tend to focus on one topic) and factual. They often begin with "what", "where", "when", and "how".
· Examples: How could you produce more force and send the ball farther? What are three things that are important to do to in order to land softly and in control?
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
The teacher is able to observe both content and process through this activity. As a written assignment or an oral presentation or interview (live or taped) may be the ongoing student activity used for assessment, the teacher will record student progress using a rating scale, checklist or anecdotal records. Saskatchewan Education Training and Employment (1991), Instructional Approaches.
· This strategy refers to the structured, repetitive review of previously learned concepts to a predetermined level of mastery.
· Example: Overarm throw.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
This strategy tends to focus on skills. To assess levels of skill, teachers will need to use performance assessment tools such as station work and peer or self-assessment. Refinement cues can be inserted as criteria on a template for anecdotal records, checklists or rating scales (see curriculum guide under Assessment and Evaluation).
This strategy involves six teaching functions:
· reviewing daily
· presenting new material
· conducting guided practice
· providing feedback and correctives
· conducting independent practice
· reviewing weekly and monthly
Example: Progression of a unit on landings.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
As explicit teaching involves students interacting with content, the most appropriate way of assessing may be with a combination of test items.
The mini-lecture is a one-way type of communication. It is an efficient way of providing a small amount of information in a short period of time.
Mini lectures are effective when they are:
· 10-15 minutes in duration, never longer than 20 minutes
· mixed with group discussion and demonstrations
· accompanied with such aids as overheads and flip charts
Example: Presenting information on heart rate before students feel their heartbeat pulse.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
The purpose of a mini-lecture is to impart knowledge. The most appropriate way of assessing understanding is a combination of test items such as essay, short answer, multiple choice, true and false.
· This strategy refers to organizing and arranging topics or concepts to make them meaningful to students.
· Example: Unit overview and how it fits into the rest of the year.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
As this is usually used as an organizer, teachers are not likely to assess it.
Indirect instruction strategies are student centered. Concept mapping would be an example of an indirect instruction strategy.
Indirect instruction methods are very effective when:
· thinking outcomes are desired
· attitudes, values or interpersonal outcomes are desired as important as product
· the focus is personalized understanding and long-term retention of concepts or generalizations
· lifelong learning capability is desired
Saskatchewan Education (1991) Instructional Approaches: A Framework for Professional Practice.
Case studies refer to assigned scenarios based on real life situations. Two kinds of case studies may be used.
· Students should be encouraged to determine their own issues and develop case studies that are personally relevant or interesting.
· Teachers should accumulate and keep on file actual case study situations from the playground, the classroom, the community or the media for use with their students.
Example: Students read an article about a student who falls from a creative playground.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
· Students may respond to a case study individually, in small groups, or as a class.
· Students may respond to a case study in writing, through a drawing or through various dramas in context strategies.
Concept attainment is an inductive way to teach a concept in which examples and non-examples are provided in order to develop students' understanding of the particular concept.
Example: A student will perform a landing on the feet. Students must decide if it was safe or unsafe.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
In assessing student learning, teachers may wish to focus on the following criteria recorded on an anecdotal record template:
This instructional method can promote creative, meaningful, long-term learning. In the Elementary Physical Education curriculum, concept mapping can be used to have students see the relationships between new information and what they already know.
Concept mapping:
· is a technique used to identify key concepts or to show the relationships between concepts
· can facilitate learning and recall
· can make clear to students the key ideas to learn
· can be used to review subject matter
· can provide a summary of a unit or lesson
Example: Showing the relationship between the movement pattern Landing and a variety of equipment and situations that involve the absorption of force.
As concept mapping is used as an engaging activity and synthesis activity or one that supplies diagnostic information, teachers may consider the type of information they wish to collect in assessing students' concept maps. Anecdotal records may be the most appropriate data recording method. Possible criteria to direct anecdotal comments may be:
· inclusion of required concepts
· depth of relationships between concepts
· student background information
· rationale or logic involved in the concept map structure
A journal contains students' thoughts, feelings and reflections on various topics or experiences. The following guidelines should be observed for an effective implementation of this method within the physical education program:
· The primary purpose of journals is to explore ideas and to communicate with oneself. Students should be told that they may mark an entry as "private." Reassure the students that such entries will never be shared with anyone without their consent.
· When responding to journal entries, teachers might offer advice, lend a sympathetic ear to the student or ask questions to guide the student's decision making.
· Students should be told that they may ask anyone (a trusted friend, a parent, the teacher) to read and respond to a journal entry.
· Attention to mechanics, neatness or organization should not be part of journal writing. Rather, the focus should be on the issue at hand, and on expressing feelings and ideas.
· Teachers should review journal entries with students to identify their interests and concerns, and to discuss the skills and knowledge needed for further growth and achievement.
· Journal entries should always be dated.
· Periodically, and at the end of the year, teachers should ask the students to reread their journals and look for specific instances of their own growth and change.
· This strategy refers to a process of decision making or a series of steps used by individuals or groups to arrive at answers to questions or solutions to problems.
· Example: Students are asked to put a ball in a bucket at the other end of the gymnasium without using their hands.
Teachers may use a checklist, rating scale or anecdotal record template in order to record student information.
· This strategy involves students individually or as a group in thinking more deeply about a topic through discussion.
· Example: Students reflect on the ways they are showing respect for the rights and feelings of others.
A Venn diagram is not an instructional method in itself. Rather, it is a tool for recording responses in activities that are based on the compare and contrast instructional method. Venn diagrams may be used for comparing people, places or topics. The following description uses concepts as an example to illustrate the step by step procedure for completing a Venn diagram:
· Ask the students to describe the concept Receiving.
· Record these descriptors on the blackboard.
· Repeat for the concept Landing.
· Explain that in this diagram, the area where the two circles overlap will be used to record things that the two concepts have in common; the other areas will be used to record what is unique to each of the concepts.
· Review the descriptors for each concept and ask where the students think they fit.
· Invite the students to compare how many descriptors are in the overlapping area and how many are in the other areas; discuss how the diagram helps visualize how much the concepts have in common.
Teachers may use an anecdotal recording instrument that highlights student participation and contributions.
Interactive instruction strategies employ groups of learners. Before the group members set to work, it is important for them to be aware of what they are to accomplish, how much time they have, and what the recording or reporting procedures are.
Successful use of interactive instruction methods in Physical Education 1-5 requires students to be aware of particular group process skills. A few basics include respect for the opinion of others, attentive listening skills, recording and reporting skills.
Brainstorming is a technique for generating ideas in which all members of a group are asked to contribute their ideas. It is based upon the belief that when a great number of ideas are generated, the chances of uncovering a good idea or solution are increased. Ground rules are essential for this activity to be effective and successful:
· All critical judgment is suspended; list all ideas without judging them; passing judgment inhibits creativity and decreases the number of ideas generated.
· Quantity is more important than quality.
· Build on other people's ideas and modify them.
· Ensure that all students participate.
The activity stops when the group runs out of ideas or the allotted time expires. Ask for single word or single phrase items and write everything down. Rules for brainstorming should be posted where all students may see them.
When all ideas have been generated, they can be combined or categorized.
Example: Students can brainstorm ideas for a new cooperative game with scoops and balls.
Teachers may decide to assess brainstorming when it is used in the context of cooperative learning groups. Anecdotal records may be the preferred method of recording data.
Cooperative learning involves students working in small groups to complete a task or project. The task is structured in such a way that involvement of each group member contributes to completion of the task. Success is based on the performance of individual group members.
Cooperative learning stresses interdependence and promotes cooperation rather than competition.
There are many different methods of structuring cooperative learning activities. Common guidelines include:
· Groups should be heterogeneous. They should include students of varying abilities and cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
· Small group activities run most efficiently with two to five members.
· The group task must be structured in such a way that the involvement of each group member is necessary to complete the task. Each student is responsible for some part of the task.
· Individuals must be aware of their responsibilities. They must be accountable to the group and for their own learning.
· The teacher should discuss and model desired collaborative skills and observe students' demonstration of those skills as they participate in cooperative learning activities.
· Students must be provided with the opportunity to reflect individually and as a group on what they have accomplished both academically and socially. Students should be encouraged to evaluate the process as well as the final product. They should reflect on their cooperative skills.
· Checklists or journal writing may be used for self-reflection or for initiating group discussion on cooperative learning activities.
Example: Students will participate in parachute activities.
Teachers may use anecdotal records, checklists or self-assessment to record student's actions towards their peers.
· A problem or issue is chosen that elicits a variety of responses.
· Discussion is based on material familiar to students and should conclude with consensus, a solution, clarification of insights gained or a summary.
· Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment (1991) Instructional Approaches.
· Example: Students are to have a discussion about whether or not the games they created were valuable.
It is the teacher's decision whether discussion is assessed. Should teachers wish to evaluate discussion, what is to be looked for must be determined and shared with students ahead of time.
· Interviewing is a process of questioning people to obtain information about their opinions or experiences.
· Example: Surveying students about their attitudes towards physical activities.
Students may use a self-assessment process on conducting an interview as found in the Assessment and Evaluation Template section.
Students become experts on a topic and then meet with other experts to study the assigned topic.
To conduct a jigsaw:
· Each student receives a portion of the materials to be introduced.
· Students leave their home or mixed groups and meet in expert groups.
· Expert groups discuss the material and brainstorm ways in which to present their understandings to the other members of their mixed group.
· The experts return to their mixed groups to teach their portion of the materials and to learn from the other members of their mixed group.
Example: Learning about the principles related to the development of physical fitness components.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques, Checklists or Self-assessment
Checklists or self-assessment.
KWL is a discussion process.
· Draw a three-column chart as illustrated below:
· Invite the students to brainstorm what they know about the topic, reminding them that at this point, there is no wrong answer. Record responses under the column What I (we) Know.
· Invite the students to go back and circle any responses of which they are not absolutely sure. Encourage them to discuss these items and to reflect on the source of their information.
· Ask the students to generate a list of questions, starting with the circled items from the What I Know column, and then adding to these other questions they might have about the topic. Record questions under the What I Want to Know column.
· Ask the students how they could find out the answers to their questions. Encourage them to be specific. For instance, if they suggest to look for answers in books, ask what type of books. Adapt this step of the procedure to the extent of the students' research skills.
· The next step, completing the What I Learned column, will also depend on the extent of the students' research skills. Activities for this step might be as complex as an independent research using multiple resources, or as simple as the students viewing a video or listening to a presentation and taking notes as they hear answers to their questions.
· Conclude activities with a reflection and discussion on process.
· Once the students are familiar with the procedure, they can use it in small groups or individually. If activities were done in collaborative groups, include instruction and evaluation of cooperative group work skills.
· In some situations, initial responses to the brainstorm session might be recorded first on the blackboard, then categorized and transferred onto the What I Know column, under subtitles for each category.
· Categories might be suggested by the teacher, or the students might come up with their own suggestions for grouping responses.
This strategy involves each student rehearsing skills or conceptual information with a peer.
Example: Practice sending with a partner.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
Teachers may use an anecdotal recording instrument that highlights student participation and contributions.
Independent learning has implications for responsible decision making. Individuals are expected to analyze problems, reflect, make decisions and take purposeful actions. To take responsibility for their lives in times of rapid social change, students need to acquire lifelong learning capability. As most aspects of our daily lives are likely to undergo profound changes, independent learning will enable individuals to respond to the changing demands of work, family and society. (Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment (1988) Instructional Approaches: A Framework for Professional Practice.)
· Assigned questions are those prepared by the teacher and/or students to be answered by individuals or small groups of students with the students discussing their responses among themselves or with the teacher. (Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment (1991), Instructional Approaches.
· Example: Questions related to purchasing a worthwhile piece of sports equipment (such as running shoes).
If the questions are designed at the knowledge level, a recall style test can be used to assess student learning. If the questions are designed to be at the application level or higher, then complex criteria are established. (See Teaching Physical Education Through Effective Questioning in the unit on Sending in Part Four of this guide.)
· This strategy refers to any instructional program in which the computer performs, manages, or supports some or all of the teacher or provider functions.
· Example: Personalized fitness programs.
If teachers access such a resource, student learnings are to be assessed in ways that correspond to the initial purpose or intent. In other words, teachers ask themselves the questions: Why did I have this student working with a particular software package? What learning objectives are the students to accomplish by working through this package? Teachers will then assess students on those learning objectives.
· Essays are exercises that require students to respond comprehensively in written form to an assigned topic.
· Example: In place of a formal exam, students may write an essay.
· This refers to assignments students are given that are to be completed during their time away from the classroom.
· Homework is both an assessment technique and an instructional method. (Student Evaluation: A Teacher Handbook. (1991). Regina, SK; Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment. P. 93.)
· Example: Go for a 30-minute walk (Active Living Perspective).
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
Homework can apply to both the cognitive and motor skill domains. If the purpose of the homework is motor skill improvement, a checklist or rating scale is appropriate. If the purpose is cognitive or attitudinal, instruments can be designed accordingly. See Parent Assessment and Self-Assessment templates in Assessment and Evaluation section of this guide.
A contract refers to an agreement between a student, or a group of students, and a teacher regarding what activity will be undertaken, who will do it, how it will be done and when it will be completed.
Example: Contract for active living.
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
The teacher may choose to assess the completion of the contract with an appropriate time frame.
· Reports may be written, graphic or oral in nature and involve the students in expressing their learnings about a chosen topic.
· Example: A report of an exploration of the concept "Rotation".
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
The teacher and student need to determine the criteria on which the report will be assessed ahead of time. The criteria would then be inserted into a template for a checklist, rating scale or anecdotal records.
Students are involved in research projects individually, as partners and as members of small groups.
Example: Investigate fitness equipment to compare cost and quality.
This method reflects the students' ability to research a topic and their attitude towards the assignment.
These strategies are student centered. The emphasis is on process rather than product.
There are five phases:
· Experiencing (an activity occurs).
· Sharing (reactions and observations are shared).
· Analyzing (patterns are determined; generalizations are formulated).
· Inferring (concepts are developed).
· Applying (students reflect on the experience and what they have concluded to other contexts; plans are made to use learnings in new situations).
This strategy is the process of internally visualizing an object, event or situation. It enables students to relax and allow their imaginations to take them on journeys and to respond with their senses to the mental images formed.
Focused imaging provides the opportunity for students to experience events or situations vicariously.
· Prior to the lesson, create a script describing a specific situation, movement sequence or individual movement, drawing upon as many senses as possible.
· Prepare the students by suggesting a relaxation activity.
· Ensure a relaxed atmosphere throughout the session.
· Invite the students to focus on an image in their minds, such as a blank piece of paper. Then describe the situation (movement) from the script, leaving pauses for students to create their own mental images.
· Return the students to the image they created in their mind at the beginning of the activity (e.g., the blank piece of paper), and invite them to focus their attention back to the classroom.
· Discuss the experience, encouraging the students to share the images created and the feelings aroused.
· Various follow-up activities may be used to enhance the effectiveness of a focused imaging session. The students might:
Example: Movement skill development (visualizing the landing before doing it).
Perhaps student self-assessment would be the focus because this instructional method is difficult for an observer to assess. The self-assessment might involve the teacher to the extent that the teacher instructs the students to concentrate on one or two sensations throughout the experience. These key sensations might be recorded by using a checklist or anecdotal record completed by the student.
· Games are learning or training activities that include conflict, control and rules for terminating the activities. They are structured or contrived activities.
· Example: Creating games which focus on specific Basic Movement Patterns (e.g, skipping (Locomotion) and kicking a ball (Sending).
Appropriate Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
Specific criteria must be established so that either the teacher or student can assess the process as well as the final product.